The invention relates to filling or packaging machines used to place solid or liquid goods inside pre-formed cardboard cases or containers, hereinafter called with the generic term containers. The containers arrive from the paper manufacturer with a tubular and flattened shape, so that they can be fed in great quantity as piles in vertical magazines. Frequently the containers are piled with an inclination of about 45-60xc2x0 with respect to the horizontal, in order for the piles to be longer and more ample and positioned lower and so that they can be more easily fed by an operator with respect to the vertical magazines.
The present practice is to use vertical magazines having a great length so that they can contain a great quantity of containers, but said lengthy magazines have their terminal or end portion at a considerable distance from the ground. Consequently, such magazines are not easily reached by the operator who must cyclically supply them. It will also be appreciated that often the magazines are arranged in pairs side by side, in order to increase the working ability of the packaging machine.
The technical problem that actually is found in the packaging machines with manual re-filling of the magazines is therefore of double aspect and consists, on one hand, in the discomfort for the operator to execute the re-filling operation and, on the other hand, in the difficulty for only one operator to supply the magazines of a plurality of packaging machines placed in the same working environment and simultaneously operating.
The invention resolves these problems with the following solution. Under the inclined and traditional vertical magazine, called the main magazine, which can be structured with a great length and consequently with a great working ability, there is mounted an ancillary magazine which is initially in a loading position almost horizontal so as to be easily re-filled with containers by the operator. The ancillary magazine can thus support a pile or series of containers between longitudinal ends and by a portion of the lower or bottom plane or side, so that with the support of this bottom plane the free lateral portions of the pile are free both laterally and at the top. The main magazine is provided with an upper back portion having a length proportional to the length of the ancillary magazine, which upon suitable control may open and close itself downwardly. When the upper portion of the main magazine is emptied of the containers, the upper back portion is opened and the upward movement of the ancillary magazine is effected to insert its pile of containers in the main magazine. Subsequently, the upper back portion is closed again to retain the pile of containers therein and to allow to the ancillary magazine to return empty in the lower loading position for repeating a new working cycle.
The advantages arising from this solution include an easy cyclic feeding of the containers to the ancillary magazine which in the phase of loading is at man-height and in an almost horizontal position. Thus, the feeding of the containers to the ancillary magazine can be effected during the long time interval which passes from the filling of the main magazine until the substantial emptying of said main magazine, so that an operator has a lot of time to feed several such ancillary magazines simultaneously operating several packaging machines. The working ability of the composite magazine according to the invention is now derived from the sum of the capability of the main magazine and the capability of the ancillary magazine. It will also be appreciated that the presence of the ancillary magazine does not substantially modify the overall plan dimensions of the main magazine, because the ancillary magazine can be substantially placed under the main magazine.